S01.E05: Dinner Party

[maraleia]

 

Freddie and Stuart invite Ash and his new, apparently perfect, girlfriend Chloe to dinner. Violet is having some difficulty with her lover in Buenos Aires.

 

[LuciaMia]

They have so many clips up on Youtube, especially the insults, that I feel I've already seen half the episode already. ;-)

I do love Stuart's firm belief that chicken is vegan.

************

But it would be so much better if they just tuned down the laugh track a tad.

[M. Darcy]

That must have been one great potatoe scene if he got a job on Midwife from it. Hee, delivering his daughter's Siamese twins - that's so midwife.

[iMonrey]

So only one episode left? Sad. I've so fallen in love with this show. Watching Ash and his girlfriend go from being mushy and too lovey-dovey into bickering bickersons like Freddie and Stuart was hysterical. I think this may have been my favorite episode so far, although I did kind of miss Penelope. I love the running gag of Stuart being on the phone with his mother at the start of every episode, and the way he keeps saying "You remember our friend Violet" to Ash, as though Ash is too stupid to remember Violet from one day to the next. It's little touches like that that make Britcoms so great. Too bad they don't make more episodes, but I guess I'll take quality over quantity.

[SmithW6079]

That must have been one great potato scene if he got a job on Midwife from it. Hee, delivering his daughter's Siamese twins - that's so midwife.

I was expecting Freddie to say that he drops the babies when they come out.

 

I realize Freddie and Stuart have reached the age of "I'll say whatever the fuck I want," but they really were abominable. That's not how you behave in front of someone you've never met before. Chloe was right to tell them off.

[dcalley]

That must have been one great potatoe scene if he got a job on Midwife from it. Hee, delivering his daughter's Siamese twins - that's so midwife.

Let's not give Freddie a big head! It's his granddaughter's twins he'll be delivering!

 

"Nothing could give me more of a high than being with Ash."

"Have you tried cocaine?"

 

In the little behind the scenes bit after the show, there was an old picture of Jacobi and McKellen at Cambridge:

[DXD526]

Poor Stuart. One would think that his Mum would get the picture after his living with a man for 48 years, but some people are in deep denial!

 

This week set a record for bleeps. There were entire sentences bleeped! I wish PBS would re-run this in the early morning hours, uncensored.

[peeayebee]

 I love the running gag of Stuart being on the phone with his mother at the start of every episode, and the way he keeps saying "You remember our friend Violet" to Ash, as though Ash is too stupid to remember Violet from one day to the next. 

I love those, too. Also, I think Freddie always descends the stairs after Stuart hangs up with his mother. And I love when they're sitting on the couch and cross their legs in unison. In this ep they also sipped their tea in unison.

 

I think both Jacobi and McKellen are terrific, but I'm particularly tickled by McKellen's line deliveries. 

 

"Perhaps you could carve it into a bar of soap to help us better understand."

 

"Remember you're having a super fun time."

 

"Would you like any pills to go with that?"

 

"Too bad you can't drink a candle! Perhaps that's why guests usually bring wine."

Edited July 28, 2014 by peeayebee

[Brattinella]

Thank you SO MUCH for posting that old picture dcalley !  I looked all over for it!

 

I love the zingers that Ian spews, wonderful stuff. Bizarrely small mouth!

[dcalley]

I was frustrated it wasn't shown longer because I wanted a good look at it, and then frustrated again that it wasn't on PBS's website. Fortunately it wasn't too hard to find elsewhere.

[peeayebee]

Yes, thank you for that photo. I didn't know they went to Cambridge together. For some reason, I love it when TV shows and movies use actual old photos of the actors for their characters.

[M. Darcy]

 

I didn't know they went to Cambridge together.

 

Aw, according to Wikipedia, Ian had a crush on Derek back then - as he says it was "a passion that was undeclared and unrequited".

Edited July 29, 2014 by M. Darcy

[dcalley]

“He had a candle for me,” Sir Derek, 74, added: “I had no idea I was breaking his heart.”

*sniff*

[Brattinella]

Wow, that is so sad. :(